Three Vallejo teens arrested for August homicide

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Vallejo firefighters use a truck to move the body of a man, later identified as James Souza, found dead under the Sacramento Street bridge in August. The truck transported the body to an awaiting coroner s van on the street above. Chris Riley Times-Herald File Photo

Vallejo police announced Wednesday that three teenagers have been arrested in association with an August homicide.

The male teenagers, ages 14, 16 and 17, were arrested on Oct. 1 in Central Vallejo after detectives, the SWAT Team and the FBI Gang Task Force served search warrants on the case, police said.

They were also validated gang members, though police declined to name the gang.

Their names are also being withheld due to their ages.

The suspects remain in custody and are charged with the murder of James Souza, 46, and criminal street gang offenses, police said.

Souza, of Vallejo, was located at about 9:15 a.m., Aug. 14., on the train tracks under the Sacramento Street bridge by Yolo Avenue after police received a report of a possible dead body.

Souza had been shot multiple times, and was later determined to have been killed the previous day between 3 and 4 p.m., police said.

Detectives did not release the motive for the killing, and it was not immediately known if the teenagers would be charged as adults in the case.

Souza was previously known for a 1996 incident in which he was arrested on suspicion of stabbing then-Napa Police Chief Dan Monez.

During a 1996 “Cruise Night” — a Napa event in which car enthusiasts, locals and visitors watch classic cars cruise along Jefferson Street — Monez was handling an altercation between a man and a woman in a convenience store parking lot. He was stabbed in the stomach by Souza, said Lt. Debbie Peecook of the Napa Police Department. Souza was arrested for the stabbing and Monez was taken to a local hospital for his injuries and survived.

Souza, who was 26 at the time of his arrest, was later convicted of battery upon a police officer, according to a 2001 article from the Napa Valley Register.

The Vallejo Police Department is still seeking information from the public regarding the August shooting. Anyone with information should call Detective Sean Kenney at 707-648-4342.

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